Horace Welcome Babcock (September 13, 1912 – August 29, 2003) was an American

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

. He was the son of

Harold D. Babcock Harold Delos Babcock (January 24, 1882 – April 8, 1968) was an American astronomer and the father of Horace W. Babcock. He was of English and German ancestry. He was born in Edgerton, Wisconsin, before completing high school in Los Angeles ...

Career

Babcock invented and built a number of astronomical instruments, and in 1953 was the first to propose the idea of

adaptive optics Adaptive optics (AO) is a technology used to improve the performance of optical systems by reducing the effect of incoming wavefront distortions by deforming a mirror in order to compensate for the distortion. It is used in astronomical tele ...

. He specialized in spectroscopy and the study of magnetic fields of stars. He proposed the

Babcock Model The Babcock Model describes a mechanism which can explain magnetic and sunspot patterns observed on the Sun. History The modern understanding of sunspots starts with George Ellery Hale, who linked magnetic fields and sunspots. Hale suggested t ...

, a theory for the magnetism of sunspots. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he was engaged in radiation work at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

and

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

. After the war he began a productive collaboration with his father. His undergraduate studies were at

and his doctorate from

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. Babcock's doctoral thesis contained one of the earliest indications of dark matter. He reported measurements of the rotation curve for Andromeda which suggested that the mass-to-luminosity ratio increases radially. He, however, attributed it to either absorption of light within the galaxy or modified dynamics in the outer portions of the spiral and not to any form of missing matter. He was director of the Palomar Observatory for

from 1964 to 1978.

Honors

Awards *

Henry Draper Medal The Henry Draper Medal is awarded every 4 years by the United States National Academy of Sciences "for investigations in astronomical physics". Named after Henry Draper, the medal is awarded with a gift of USD $15,000. The medal was established ...

of the National Academy of Sciences (1957) *

Eddington Medal The Eddington Medal is awarded by the Royal Astronomical Society for investigations of outstanding merit in theoretical astrophysics. It is named after Sir Arthur Eddington. First awarded in 1953, the frequency of the prize has varied over the year ...

(1958) *Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

(1959) *

Bruce Medal The Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal is awarded every year by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for outstanding lifetime contributions to astronomy. It is named after Catherine Wolfe Bruce, an American patroness of astronomy, and was fi ...

(1969) *

Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society The Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society is the highest award given by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). The RAS Council have "complete freedom as to the grounds on which it is awarded" and it can be awarded for any reason. Past awar ...

(1970) *

George Ellery Hale Prize The George Ellery Hale Prize, or Hale Prize, is awarded annually by the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society for outstanding contributions over an extended period of time to the field of solar astronomy. The prize is named in ...

of the American Astronomical Society Solar Physics Division (1992) Named after him * Asteroid

3167 Babcock While the future cannot be predicted with certainty, present understanding in various scientific fields allows for the prediction of some far-future events, if only in the broadest outline. These fields include astrophysics, which studies how ...

(jointly with his father) * Babcock crater on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

is named only for his father Honors * Elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences (1954) * Elected to the

(1959) * Elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

(1966)

References

External links

Bruce Medal page

* H.W. Babcock, "The Possibility of Compensating Astronomical Seeing"

Oral History interview transcript with Horace Babcock on 9 June 1975, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives.
Interview conducted by Spencer Weart.
Oral History interview transcript with Horace Babcock on 25 July 1977, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives.
Interview conducted by Spencer Weart.
National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir

Obituaries

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Babcock, Horace Scientists from California 1912 births 2003 deaths California Institute of Technology faculty Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences California Institute of Technology alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni 20th-century American astronomers Members of the American Philosophical Society